Cpt. 202200067006 · Criminal Complaint (Abuse of Authority)
The Anticorruption Prosecutor dismissed the complaint through Resolution No. 546-23, dated April 24, 2023, concluding that the alleged conduct against Judge Le Ferrec did not constitute a criminal offense and that the procedural omission was corrected in accordance with the law.
Villamorey, S.A. filed a criminal complaint against Judge Solange Le Ferrec Malek de Booker of the Fourth Civil Circuit Court of Panama, alleging abuse of authority in connection with the judicial-accounting proceeding brought by Lisa, S.A. The complaint claimed the judge issued Embargo Order No. 1234/14606-21 for $44,910,912.00 in favor of Lisa, S.A. without ruling on a prior objection filed by Villamorey. The Anticorruption Prosecutor investigated and determined that the omission was a procedural error later corrected through reconsideration, with no elements of the crime of abuse of authority. Resolution No. 546-23, dated April 24, 2023, ordered the dismissal and archival of the case, concluding the alleged conduct did not constitute a criminal offense.
The complaint was filed by attorney Moisés Joel Bartlett Quiel, acting on behalf of Ramiro López Nimatuj (Villamorey's legal representative), against Judge Le Ferrec of the Fourth Civil Circuit Court. The allegations centered on two points: that the judge issued Embargo Order No. 1234/14606-21 on August 2, 2022, in favor of Lisa, S.A. for $44,910,912.00 without ruling on a prior objection filed by Villamorey, and that in doing so the judge exceeded what the plaintiff had requested.
The Anticorruption Prosecutor conducted an investigation that included consultations with the Judiciary's Human Resources Technical Secretariat, obtaining authenticated copies of the civil case file from the judicial-accounting proceeding between Lisa, S.A. and Villamorey, verification with the First Superior Tribunal that no disciplinary proceeding existed against the judge, and interviews with a court clerk and the judge herself. The investigation established that Villamorey's objection had been embedded within the answer brief (rather than filed as a separate document), causing the court's case officer to overlook it when processing the file.
The Prosecutor applied the jurisprudential standard for abuse of authority under Article 355 of the Criminal Code, which requires an arbitrary act committed with dolus (criminal intent). Citing the Supreme Court of Justice's ruling of September 8, 2008, the Prosecutor concluded that not every resolution contrary to law constitutes a crime, but only the conscious, deliberate issuance of a patently unmotivated resolution born of a public servant's caprice with the clear intention of causing harm. Once the omission was identified, the Court issued Order No. 1473/14606-21 on September 23, 2022, granting reconsideration and vacating Embargo Order No. 1234/14606-21 in its entirety, along with the notification edict and all communications sent to banking institutions. This procedural correction, consistent with Article 1129 of the Judicial Code, confirmed that the judge acted within her lawful authority.
Resolution No. 546-23 ordered the dismissal and archival of the case, finding no criminal offense.
The dismissal of this complaint is relevant to Lisa, S.A.'s position for two reasons. It confirms that Judge Le Ferrec's actions in the judicial-accounting proceeding were consistent with the law, and Villamorey's baseless filing of the complaint is a central element of Criminal Case No. 202200053278, where Villamorey is under investigation for unlawful intimidation of the judge to influence the outcome of the civil proceeding.
| Date | Document | Issued by |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 23 2023 | Provisional Dismissal 546-23 | Public Prosecutor |
The case is definitively closed and archived. Villamorey's baseless filing of this complaint is under investigation in Criminal Case No. 202200053278 for unlawful intimidation of the judge.